Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure

Race and ethnicity have a significant impact on leisure behavior and activity choices. Yet, until now, no book has thoroughly explored that impact, though this topic is critical for leisure professionals to understand as they shape services and programs to meet the needs of the diverse populations they serve.

Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure: Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Practice brings together 28 world-renowned researchers who provide a comprehensive review and unified perspective on leisure in relation to five minority populations in the United States and Canada: African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian North Americans, Indigenous peoples, and religious minority groups.

This text offers a compendium of knowledge as it

• synthesizes leisure research on race and ethnicity and discusses how changing demographics will affect leisure behaviors and activities in the 21st century;

• explains the leisure behaviors and participation patterns of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States and Canada;

• explores issues, including natural resource recreation, physical activity and health, tourism, and sport, as they relate to recreation activities among minorities; and

• presents an international perspective, delving into the leisure behaviors of minority groups in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and East Asia.

Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure examines the current theories and practices related to minority leisure and reviews numerous issues related to these diverse groups’ leisure, including needs and motivations, constraints, and discrimination. The authors consider leisure behavior of ethnic and racial groups , investigating issues such as types of recreation participation among specific groups, recreation in specific environments, and factors affecting participation. The book also suggests future directions in research and professional practice, guiding students and professionals in addressing the demographic changes in the U.S. and Canadian populations.

The result is an unprecedented text that offers an extensive look at the changing landscape of recreation, leisure pursuits, our world, and the populations that are driving these changes. As such, Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure is an essential text for those preparing to enter the recreation and leisure field.

About the Editors

Monika Stodolska, PhD, is a professor in the department of recreation, sport and tourism at the University of Illinois. She received her PhD in earth and atmospheric sciences from the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research focuses on issues of cultural change and quality of life and their relationship to leisure behavior of ethnic and racial minorities. She explores subjects such as the adaptation processes among minority groups, the effects of leisure on identity development among young immigrants, and transnationalism. Other subjects that are prominent in her research include ethnic and racial discrimination in leisure settings, recreation behavior of minority populations in natural environments, physical activity among minority groups, and constraints on leisure. She also has an emerging research line on new technologies and new media in leisure and recreation. Dr. Stodolska’s research has been funded by the USDA Forest Service, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and National Recreation and Park Association. Her research has been published in Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Leisure/Loisir, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Social Science Quarterly, Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, and other outlets.

Kimberly J. Shinew, PhD, is a professor in the department of recreation, sport and tourism at the University of Illinois. She received her PhD in parks, recreation and tourism management from Clemson University. Her research focuses on the interrelated effect of race, ethnicity, social class, and gender on leisure preferences and behaviors; the impact of constraints, discrimination, and other factors on access to recreation and leisure services and activities; the roles of leisure spaces and activities in facilitating interaction among diverse groups; and the roles of leisure in encouraging physical activity and active living. Dr. Shinew’s research has been funded by the USDA Forest Service, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and National Recreation and Park Association. Her research has been published in Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Sex Roles, Journal of Physical Activity & Health, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, American Journal of Health Promotion, and other outlets.

Myron F. Floyd, PhD, is a professor in the department of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University. Collaborating with colleagues and graduate students, he examines how socioeconomic and cultural factors affect recreation behavior in natural and built environments. He specializes in understanding racial and ethnic disparities in access to parks and urban open space. His most recent work examines the effects of built and natural environments on physical activity and health in low-income and minority communities. Dr. Floyd’s research has been supported by government organizations at the state and federal levels, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USDA Forest Service, USDI National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. His research appears in a variety of social science and public health journals, including Environment and Behavior, Leisure Sciences, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, and American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Floyd holds degrees from Clemson University (BS, MS) and Texas A&M University (PhD). He is a fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences.

Gordon J. Walker, PhD, is a professor in the faculty of physical education and recreation at the University of Alberta. He received his PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research program integrates social and cross-cultural psychology and leisure theory. He is particularly interested in how culture and ethnicity affect leisure participation (e.g., gambling, outdoor recreation, physical activity) and behavior (e.g., motivations for, constraints to, experiences during, and outcomes of, leisure). Gordon's research has focused primarily on Chinese, Chinese Canadian, and British Canadian people's leisure, with funding from the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, resulting in a number of conference abstracts, book chapters, and refereed articles. Gordon was invited to teach two courses on culture and leisure at Shanghai University of Sport in 2009, the same year he was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences. In 2011 he coauthored the second edition of A Social Psychology of Leisure with Doug Kleiber and Roger Mannell. His leisure interests include reading histories and mysteries, adventure traveling (he’s visited every continent except Antarctica), and listening to music (blues, classical, and rock—especially the Boss). 

About the Contributors

Albert Y. Bimper Jr., PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of special education, counseling and student affairs with a concentration in student services in intercollegiate athletics at Kansas State University. His research focuses on the intersection of race and sport, which spans the study of identity, sociocultural knowledge, developmental needs related to Black athletes, transition after sport, and exploration of richer learning experiences for student-athlete academic achievement. Bimper cowrote “Diamonds in the Rough: Examining a Case of Successful Black Male Student Athletes in College Sport” in the Journal of Black Psychology. He received the Graduate Diversity Award from the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS). He received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.

Grant Cushman, PhD, is a professor of parks, recreation and tourism at Lincoln University in New Zealand. He has had a longtime interest in leisure and the study of leisure in New Zealand. He was president of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies and coeditor of the World Leisure Journal from 2010 to 2012. Cushman coedited two-volume monographs on international leisure participation research, one titled Free Time and Leisure Participation: International Perspectives. He is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies and the World Leisure Organization. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jinyang Deng, PhD, is an associate professor in the recreation, parks, and tourism resources program at West Virginia University. He has lived and worked in China, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Deng published “Chinese Acculturation Measurement,” an article in Canadian Ethnic Studies. He is a member of the Travel and Tourism Research Association and the World Leisure Organization. He earned a BS in forestry from Central South Forestry College (renamed Central South University of Forestry and Technology) in China (1987), an MS in forest recreation from the same university (1990), and a PhD in recreation and leisure studies from the University of Alberta, Canada (2004).

Erwei Dong, PhD, is an assistant professor in leisure studies at the University of South Alabama. He has conducted field research related to leisure lifestyles, well-being, race and ethnicity, and population health in urban and rural settings. He has conducted leisure lifestyle research projects in six cities in China, three cities and three rural areas in Taiwan, one city in Korea, and one city in Japan. Dong has also been a project manager and research assistant, a Korea Foundation research fellow, and a visiting professor at the University of Ryukyus in Japan. He cowrote “Leisure Constraints in Six Chinese Cities” in Leisure Sciences. He received his PhD from Pennsylvania State University.

Mariela Fernandez, MS, is a research assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She has conducted or aided in projects related to diverse populations, including inner-city families from Detroit, Latino urban residents (parents and youth), and Latino rural residents. Her publication “Attracting Hispanics to an African American Recreation Center” (coauthored) is featured in NRPA Leisure Research Symposium Abstract Proceedings. It documents the leisure constraints of Hispanic parents while enrolling their children at a public recreation center with a majority African American clientele. Also, her research documents horizontal discrimination between African Americans and Hispanics as well as historical discrimination. The findings of this study are highlighted in her article in the Journal of Leisure Research. She is a member of the Diversity Research Laboratory at UIUC. Fernandez is also a recipient of the Bradberry Youth Development Scholarship and the Hispanic Leaders of Agriculture and the Environment Fellowship at Texas A&M University. She received her master’s degree from Texas A&M University.

Karen M. Fox, PhD, is a professor in the faculty of physical education and recreation at the University of Alberta. She has a long history of working as a community organizer with marginalized groups, including Hispanic communities in New Mexico, Ramah Navajo High School in New Mexico, urban Aboriginal communities in Winnipeg and Edmonton, and a Native Hawaiian charter school. Fox also held a Social Science and Humanities Research grant that focused on community processes and leadership among urban Aboriginal hip-hop artists. Her research and scholarship have led to numerous coauthored manuscripts about diversity, including immigrant women and their struggles in a new community and leisure education from a Native Hawaiian perspective, as well as numerous manuscripts related to Indigenous critiques and perspectives on leisure. Fox was also a member of the Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Affairs Council and a volunteer teacher and staff member for Kanu o ka Aina Native Hawaiian Charter School. She is a fellow in the Academy of Leisure Sciences. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota.

Bob Gidlow, MA, is an associate professor in sociology. He supervises many PhD students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Gidlow was secretary of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies and was coeditor (with Cushman) of the World Leisure Journal from 2010 to 2012. One of his more influential publications is “Bringing Men Back In? Male Recreational Hunters, Divers and Fly-Fishers and the Creation of Recreation Space” in Annals of Leisure Research. It is one of the few studies to examine the wider social contexts of individualistic outdoor recreational pursuits. Gidlow is also a member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies and the World Leisure Organization. He received his MA from the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Louis Harrison Jr., PhD, is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a scholar in the areas of race, racial identity, and African Americans in sport. He has written a book, seven book chapters, and over 40 refereed journal articles and given more than 75 professional presentations at national and international conferences and symposia. Harrison cowrote “Living the Dream or Awakening from the Nightmare: Race and Athletic Identity” in Race Ethnicity and Education. He received the Charles D. Henry Award from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the E.B. Henderson Award from the Social Justice and Diversity Committee of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Harrison was recently inducted as a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology. He received his PhD in kinesiology from Louisiana State University.

Paul Heintzman, PhD, is an associate professor of leisure studies at the University of Ottawa. He received his PhD in recreation and leisure studies from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on the topic of leisure and spiritual well-being. Heintzman is the editor of a special issue of the journal Leisure/Loisir on the theme of leisure and spirituality and coeditor of the book Christianity and Leisure: Issues in a Pluralistic Society. He is a member of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies and the Christian Society for Kinesiology and Leisure Studies. In 2003 he received the Society of Park and Recreation Educators Teaching Innovation Award for creative experiential learning activities developed for a fourth-year class on leisure and spirituality, and in 2007 he was a recipient of the Christian Society for Kinesiology and Leisure Studies’ Literary Award.

Karla A. Henderson, PhD, is a professor in the department of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University. She wrote two editions of the textbook Dimensions of Choice: Qualitative Approaches to Research in Parks, Recreation, Tourism, Sport, and Leisure, in 1991 and 2006. She has also done extensive research on leisure and African American and American Indian women. Henderson is a member of the Academy of Leisure Sciences and the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administrators. She has received numerous awards, including the National Recreation and Park Association’s Roosevelt Award for Research Excellence, both the World Leisure George Torkildsen Literary Award and the National Recreation and Park Association Literary Award in 2010, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from North Carolina State University in 2012. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota and holds a ScD (honoris causa) from the University of Waterloo.

Daniel A. Henhawk, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the department of recreation and leisure studies at University of Waterloo. He has had a lifelong involvement in sport and recreation at various levels. He is currently specializing in Indigenous issues such as colonization and decolonization as these concepts relate to leisure. Henhawk cowrote “Indigenous Qualitative Inquiry: (Re)Awakening, Together, From a Long Colonizing Slumber” in International Review of Qualitative Research. He is currently a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada award holder for completion of his doctorate. He received his master’s degree from the University of Waterloo.

Cassandra Johnson-Gaither, PhD, is a research social scientist and project leader with the Integrating Human and Natural Systems Research Work Unit for the U.S. Forest Service. Her research on race and ethnicity and outdoor leisure spans two decades. She has published extensively on ethnic and racial minority engagement with natural resources and the environment, with particular attention to cultural meanings as motivators for natural resource engagement. Johnson-Gaither cowrote “African American Wildland Memories” in Environmental Ethics. She is a member of the International Association for Society and Natural Resources and the American Sociological Association. She received her PhD in sociology from the University of Georgia.

Junhyoung Kim, PhD, is an assistant professor in human performance and sport sciences at Winston Salem State University. He has a strong research background in leisure, ethnicity, and health. Kim is involved in research projects examining the value of intergroup contact and acculturation with a diverse sample of groups such as Korean immigrant adolescents and foreigners who immigrated to Korea. He was also a research assistant for the Wounded Warrior Project at Pennsylvania State University, which explored various aspects of leisure and recreation in relation to healing and the recovery process. One of his more prominent publications, titled “Exploring the Experience of Intergroup Contact and the Value of Recreation Activities in Facilitating Positive Intergroup Interactions of Immigrants,” appeared in Leisure Sciences. He received his PhD from Pennsylvania State University.

Monica Li, PhD, is a lecturer at Beijing International Studies University. She has conducted research related to leisure constraints, race and ethnicity, leisure and sociocultural change, and leisure and transnationalism. She was a project manager in Spain for a project focusing on the general goal of capacity building for developing countries on sustainable tourism and social development, a postdoctoral research fellow at Peking University in China, and a research assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. One of Li’s widely cited publications is an article in Leisure Sciences titled “Transnationalism, Leisure, and Chinese Graduate Students in the United States.” She received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Leo McAvoy, PhD, is a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. As a professor and researcher since 1980, he focused on the personal and social benefits of environmental behaviors and the management of human behavior in outdoor recreation settings. He wrote “American Indians, Place Meanings and the Old/New West” in the Journal of Leisure Research. McAvoy was also the lead researcher on four collaborative research projects with the USDA Forest Service and American Indian Tribes and Canadian First Nations. He is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the National Parks and Conservation Association. McAvoy has received many awards, including the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Research from the National Recreation and Park Association, the Association for Experiential Education’s Teaching Award, and the Wilderness Education Association’s Paul Petzoldt Outdoor Leadership Award. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota.

Rasul A. Mowatt, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of recreation, park, and tourism studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. His research background is in race studies, social justice, critical theory, and cultural studies. He has been a park professional since 2005 and a social justice advocate since 1991. His article “Notes from a Leisure Son: Expanding an Understanding of Whiteness in Leisure,” published in the Journal of Leisure Research, introduced new ways of connecting leisure to social justice movements. He is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Karin Peters, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Cultural Geography Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She has published frequently in the field of leisure and ethnic diversity, mostly focusing on the Dutch society but also at the European level. One of her articles in Forest Policy and Economics is titled “Towards Access for All? Policy and Research on Access of Ethnic Minority Groups to Natural Areas in Four European Countries.” Peters has supervised many graduate students on a variety of topics in the field of leisure science. She is also the deputy chair of the Research Network of Sociology and Migration (RN35) of the European Sociological Association. Peters is editor in chief of the journal Vrijetijdstudies (Leisure Studies). She received her PhD from Wageningen University.

Ingrid E. Schneider, PhD, is a professor in the department of forest resources and a director of the University of Minnesota Tourism Center. She coauthored Diversity and the Recreation Profession, which advances understanding of organizational change to promote diversity. Schneider is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the International Association for Society and Natural Resources. She is a fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences. She received her PhD from Clemson University.

David Scott, PhD, is a professor in the department of recreation, park, and tourism sciences at Texas A&M University. His research has examined various aspects of social inequality for the past two decades. Scott has published dozens of articles on leisure, supervised graduate students doing research in this area, and contributed numerous articles and book chapters related to inequality in leisure. His article “Recreational Specialization: A Critical Look at the Construct” in the Journal of Leisure Research broke new ground on ways of thinking about leisure participation. Scott received the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Recreation and Park Research from the National Recreation and Park Association. He received his PhD from Pennsylvania State University.

Iryna Sharaievska, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of health, leisure and exercise science at the Appalachian State University. Since 2008, she has conducted research on leisure among diverse population groups, including Latino urban residents, African American teenagers, and Korean and East European women married to American men. She teaches courses in leisure services and diversity. Sharaievska has delivered presentations focused on leisure among diverse groups. She also cowrote “Discrimination in Leisure Settings in Latino Urban Communities” in Leisure/Loisir. She is a faculty affiliate of the Diversity Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sharaievska is also a recipient of the 2011 Christine Ziebarth Howe Award. She received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kindal A. Shores, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of recreation and leisure studies and an adjunct professor in the department of public health at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine. She is a certified physical activity and public health intervention specialist (American College of Sports Medicine certification). She is recognized for her expertise in physical activity and cowrote “Rural and Urban Park Use and Park-Based Physical Activity” in Preventive Medicine. She draws on her research experience in exercise science and leisure studies to investigate the unique contribution of public parks and recreation to healthy lifestyles. She is a member of the American Alliance for Physical Activity Research and the National Recreation and Park Association. She has MS and PhD degrees in recreation and leisure studies with coursework emphasis in sociology and race studies from Texas A&M University.

Michael Toohey, PhD, is an associate professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interest is in the history of sport and leisure, in particular the role of clubs and societies in 19th-century New Zealand. He cowrote “One Who Does Not Make His Living: Social Class and Cash Amateur Bicycle Racing in Nineteenth Century New Zealand” in the International Journal of the History of Sport. Toohey received his PhD in social history from Lincoln University in New Zealand.

Eva Hiu-Lun Tsai, PhD, is an adjunct research fellow for Griffith Business School at Griffith University. As an immigrant and a member of an ethnic minority in Australia, she has developed an interest in cross-cultural comparative research and leisure research related to ethnic minorities. She has conducted several studies and published material extensively in this area. Tsai has also taught postgraduate courses at Hong Kong Baptist University and supervised students’ dissertations focusing on development and management of leisure and sport of special populations. One of her more prominent publications is “A Cross-Cultural Study of the Influence of Perceived Positive Outcomes on Participation in Regular Active Recreation: Hong Kong and Australian” in Leisure Sciences. She received the University Medal and her PhD from Griffith University.

Xiye Wang, PhD, cowrote “The Effect of Face Concerns on University Students’ Leisure Travel: A Cross-Cultural Comparison” in the Journal of Leisure Research. She worked with Aboriginal communities in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, during her postdoctoral studies. Wang received her PhD in recreation and leisure studies from the University of Alberta.